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Steven D. Sladkus

Mr. Sladkus, 41, is a partner in the law firm Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz, which is based in New York. With a practice focusing on real estate, he represents co-ops and condominiums. His clients include the Cityspire Condominium in Midtown and the Parkchester North Condominium in the Bronx.

Q How large is your firm’s real estate division?

A We’ve continued to grow over the last three to five years. We have 18 lawyers in our department — half transactional, half for litigation. We represent north of 270 buildings — half condos, half co-ops.

Q Are you busy now?

A We’ve been extremely busy. Issues come up on a daily basis.

Q What are some of them?

A We’re handling a tremendous number of construction-defect cases. And some of the biggest issues and problems are life-safety: you may have parapet walls on the roof that are too low.

During the real estate boom, everyone had to be in the development business. It was like playing Lotto — you had to be in it to win it. I had a case, for example, where a small building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, was put up and people paid top dollar for not-so-fantastic apartments. The developer was a baker.

A We’re dealing with some larger developers, too. We have several lawsuits against Boymelgreen and his partner, Africa Israel, about leaks, fire-proofing issues, you name it. There are a lot of the big developers, though, who I’m happy to say I have not really encountered any problems with.

Q Is the recent rise in complaints attributed to New York’s three-year statute of limitations for negligence claims?

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Credit
Andrea Mohin/The New York Times

A The answer is a resounding yes. For a lot of these buildings we’re approaching three years.

Q Speaking of lawsuits, what’s the status of the one by condo owners of Arris Lofts in Long Island City, alleging construction defects, among other things?

A We are about to serve a complaint. There are several issues here: construction-related and allegations that the sponsor inappropriately used condominium funds for work that was supposed to have been paid for by the sponsor, not the condo. The reason why the suit is being brought now by the unit owners as opposed to the board is because the sponsor controls the board in this building for five years. It’s written in the offering plan. And so after five years, the three-year limitation period for pursuing negligence claims goes bye-bye.

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Q You also handled a well-publicized suit against the operators of the Empire Hotel roof deck bar. The nearby co-op you represent, the Harmony, had complained about excessive noise.

A We want an injunction ordering them to comply with the city’s noise code, and to have no music played on the outdoor roof deck bar at any time, and to limit times patrons may be outside. The noise is coming from across the way and is being heard 12 stories up, so it’s affecting floors 12 to 26.

I have a YouTube video of the group Maroon 5 performing on July 1. Do you know how many calls we got about that one? Q What can buyers do to protect themselves, especially from shoddy construction?

A Here’s one bit of advice: do not sign a contract to buy an apartment in any building that’s not built or that you can’t look at or walk through. That probably won’t be as big a problem as it was a few years ago, when people were buying from offering plans. My second bit of advice is, before buying an apartment in a newly constructed building or in a gut rehab, bring an architect or engineer to the walk-through.

A A Saudi prince who was concerned for his security installed security cameras outside his doors. His neighbor sued him and the board for spying and illegal wiretaps. I represented the board and the prince.

We argued that the cameras were mere door viewers — you only get a limited range outside each door. The case was very, very labor-intensive. We did this analysis looking at the prince’s entire surveillance system and sweeping for bugs to prove there were no listening devices anywhere in the two hallways. The court ended up agreeing with us and dismissed the whole case.

Q Are you involved in your own co-op’s board?

A I was board president for almost three years and then I decided that — how can I eloquently say this? — it was taking up too much of my time. From one shareholder alone in my building — and I’m very fond of this guy — I had something like 750 e-mails in the course of a year and a half!